Education: the road
to knowledge

More than 800 million inhabitants of countries in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia and Western Asia do not know how to read, write or count. More than two-thirds of these people are women. Despite the progress achieved in the past decade in developing countries, education and schooling often remain inaccessible. However, basic education is the most effective means of preventing poverty and illness and of improving the quality of life.

In addition, gender-based disparities put women and girls at a disadvantage at every level and reduce their chances of achieving empowerment and better living conditions. According to Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary-general, no sustainable reduction in poverty is possible without girls having access to the quality education they are entitled to.

In Ghana, Uniterra’s projects aim to raise the proportion of girls attending school. We are also contributing to the production of pedagogical material for pupils and teaching staff.

The Uniterra program relies on collaboration from a number of partners in pursuing this issue: